HOCKEY / European Championships: Ireland 0 Ukraine 3 They didn't quite match their highest ever placing at a European finals, losing to Ukraine yesterday to finish sixth in Barcelona, but the Irish camp was still entitled to a sense of satisfaction having seen the team meet the target it set for itself before this tournament, one of the rare occasions it has done so in a major event since Riet Kuper was appointed coach.
Scotland, France, newcomers Azerbaijan, Russia, Italy and Wales all finished below Ireland and while the results were often better than the performances, that was a welcome change from past experiences when big-hearted displays often yielded nothing.
Moral victories, then, were replaced by three gritty wins, over Italy and Wales in their pool and France in the cross-overs, enough to place them in the top six hockey nations in Europe, improving their ranking by three places on 1999.
They lost yesterday to a better team, as Kuper admitted after the game, one they had drawn with in their pool meeting last week. All three goals came from short corners, the first in the 12th minute, the last two in the final seven minutes. That Ireland only had one shot on target in the course of the 70 minutes and won just two corners tells the story of the game.
The team enjoyed plenty of possession throughout but a lack of bodies in the final third, an inability to produce a telling pass and too many static "options" for the player on the ball meant Ukraine were rarely threatened.
Lynsey McVicker's first time shot from Linda Caulfield's centre, shortly before the break, was the sole occasion the Ukrainian goalkeeper was forced into making a save, unlike Angela Platt at the other end who made three smart saves before Zhanna Savenko deflected Tetyana Kobzenko's corner strike over the Ballymoney player.
The heat, again, was a factor - an Azerbaijan player fainted during their game earlier in the day against Russia - reducing Ireland's ability to chase and harry their sublimely skilled opponents. The quality of Ukraine's passing, meanwhile, meant they expended less energy and it showed in the final minutes when they forced a tired Irish defence into conceding two more corners - Kobzenko, still one of the finest players in world hockey, scored from the first, Natalya Vasyukova from the second.
After the game Kuper said that she will try and persuade Jenny Burke and Karen Bateman - who came out of retirement to play in Barcelona - to stay on for the Olympic qualifier in New Zealand next March while captain Rachael Kohler confirmed that she will be available for that tournament. "You're a long time retired," she said. The squad will get together again in November.
IRELAND: A Platt, L Caulfield, D Sixsmith, C O'Brien, K Maybin, R Kohler (capt), J Orbinson, B McKeever, K Bateman, J Burke, L McVicker. Subs: J McDonough, C McKean, E Cregan, F Connery.
EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP FINALS (at Barcelona) - Women's classification matches - Fifth-sixth: Ireland 0, Ukraine 3 (Z Savenko, T Kobzenko, N Vasyukova). Seventh-eighth: Scotland 2, France 1. Ninth-10th: Azerbaijan 3, Russia 2. Eleventh-12th: Italy 3, Wales 2.
